London's Southbank

Hey there! If you happen to be walking along the bank of the River Thames (c'mon, we all do that at some point) and want something to do, why not try visiting the Southbank? There are a variety of events and stores to visit, and many of them are suitable for young elves and elflings.

Although your young elfling might ask uncomfortable questions about this poster. It's been set up to advertise the ongoing 'Festival of Love' and is part of a series of posters with different forms of love depicted in cartoons. I'm not sure if I've ever felt 'Flirting, playful affection' for any other elf, but maybe I'll ask Minty, my friend the lamb.

Nope, she hasn't, either. Such mysteries of life there are still to be unravelled!

If your boy elfling is at that stage where he's into skateboards, and slams the branches when you tell him to go up to his tree, maybe visiting the undercroft would be his thing. This undercroft has actually been the subject of a 10-month battle between skateboarders who want to keep it exactly as it is, and the powers that be at Southbank, who want to regenerate this section (thus removing this skatepark).

Here's some fun for your younger elflings, and it saves a trip to the beach - there are long sandpits along the edge of the river, and there are many human children playing in them.

There's even a carousel for your elflings too, though of course you must pay to have a go. I would advise elflings to cram onto one pony, because that's much more economical. However, for the larger human children, maybe that's not the most comfortable option.

And how about just sitting down with a nice book? There is a book market open at the Southbank too, selling second hand books. Note that each table belongs to a separate storeholder. I watched a young human being told off rather sharply - 'You can't just move the books around. That's a different store. This isn't a library' when she took a book to another table. I thought that was rather rude of the storeholder - how would she have known? But as a small elf, I did nothing and just watched as she meekly took the book back to its original table. But of course, I didn't buy anything after witnessing that.

*shakes head*

On a more positive note, there are plenty of other things to look at - these ribbons flapped in the wind with multiple snapping noises. It would be a good place for hide and seek!

I'm going to wander around for a bit.

See you soon,

Elf Dryadalis